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Study: Young people more at risk than the elderly from health problems caused by heat

2024-12-06 20:26:57Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Study: Young people more at risk than the elderly from health problems caused by
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Extreme heat driven by the climate crisis is often seen as a problem primarily for vulnerable segments of the population, such as the elderly. But it is people under the age of 35 who will bear the brunt of heat-related deaths as temperatures rise, a new study suggests.

While older people are vulnerable to heatwaves, they currently account for the majority of cold-related deaths. As the world warms, it will be the young who will suffer disproportionately as the burden of mortality shifts, with the new study estimating a 32% increase in deaths of people under 35 this century from heat if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically cut.

"Most discussions of heat vulnerability focus on the elderly, but we found a surprising source of inequality in the fact that most heat-related mortality is among the young," said Andrew Wilson, a Columbia University researcher who led the study, published in Science Advances, with a group of nine other scientists.

The study is based on data taken from deaths in Mexico, a country with high mortality records and high temperatures, which is a measurement that factors in humidity to determine the level of heat stress in people.

The researchers found that in the two decades to 2019, 75% of heat-related deaths occurred in people younger than 35, while, conversely, almost all cold-related deaths were in those older than 50.

While most heat-related deaths in Mexico, like in most countries, currently occur due to cold weather, the growing problem of extreme heat is likely to tip the balance toward more young people dying, the research suggests. This pattern could be replicated in other countries such as the U.S. and Europe, Wilson said, because of fundamental similarities in how different age groups respond to heat.

“We are seeing that deaths from cold will fall, mainly of older individuals, while deaths from heat of younger individuals will increase,” he added. “Climate change is here and how we adapt to it will be a very important determinant of human health in the future. We should not take resources away from older people, but we certainly need to think more about the risk that younger people face.”

There is no single answer as to why there is an increased risk for young people, but researchers said a number of factors are likely involved, such as physiological changes - for example, infants are unable to sweat to release heat and are dependent on caregivers - but also occupational hazards, such as a working-age population working outdoors while engaged in agricultural and construction work.

In the US, the Biden administration has spent the last three years formulating the first federal rules to protect workers from extreme heat, although these regulations are likely to be overturned by the incoming president, Donald Trump, The Guardian reports.

The higher mortality of young people from heat in a country like Mexico is influenced by the fact that there are more young people than old people in the population, as well as hazards such as working in the sun in the fields, said Kristie Eby, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington.

"However, routine exposure to higher temperatures also increases acclimation, which should lead to lower risk," Ebi said, adding that more research was needed to fully understand this pattern and whether it extended to other places.


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